Perpetual Short Bus: A Crop Circle Story

Happy Turkey Day back atcha! Today, I'm smoking chronic... and a turkey!

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Mmmm...I love the way smoked chronic tastes.

I ended up asking Hobbes when I was prepping my third bucket if he vegged after training and he said yes, sometime he even vegges the plants in the bucket before training and he usually goes 1-2 weeks after training to develop branches and roots.

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Good to know, can't believe I missed it!

the ones I vegged are doing phenomenally, looking like they'll throw multiple foot-long colas.

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So with the extra vegging, you're still only expecting to be 1' above the bucket rim through to the end? That would be sweet. If you were doing it by eye, would you say you vegged horizontally until the grow shoots hit about 6", expecting them to double in size through flower?

hey SB..i got a question for ya also...you think a crop circle could be pulled off in a party cup?...was doing some measurements and if it the main stem is on one side of the cup...i run it across then around the top...it would have about 15"...i know this wont produce that much...but if ive got 15-20 cups then it might be worth it.....just an idea...i cant use 5 gallon buckets....ive got a small grow area...and not much height..thats why i thought about doing it this way...i could fit a ton of party cups...i was getting ready to start another grow and do a crop circle...but the biggest pot i can fit in there is a 3 gallon...with nothing else...so i thought doing 15-20 party cups with the crop circle method....think this will work?..and keep in mind im only doing this as a hobby...not to sell it...for personal use...i know i would get a lot more and they would be happier in 5 gallon buckets...but i cant pull that off just yet

Saladman, it depends on strain. After I've run something once through stretch I know what to expect. Out of my 4 regulars, Super Skunk stretches about 50%, Jack the Ripper and Sour Grape both double, and OG Kush goes nuts, stretching to about 2.5 times it's original height. Weird for a supposed Kush, which are pure indica. Since I veg in a 3x3 area, vegging the buckets and having room for them at the right time takes some planning. I'd definitely say I keep the whole thing around 12" from the rim start to finish, even when I retrain them up a little.

Ruiner, it'll work no matter what you grow em in, but I'd go a little bigger. I had great results with 1 gallon grow bags. Poked holes around the top of the bags, trained the plants around em and retrained em around 4 weeks. 20" from cola to base of the grow bags, great yield for smallish plants. If you look at my harvest journal you'll see the nugs from these in the fourth post. Link's in my sig.

Sup Ruiner,

I agree with Bus, the method will work great with any size containers. Especially if you use a strain with a high node-per-inch factor. You'll end up with each node becoming a "main" cola and depending on how many you get per inch you could easily up your yield by 50-100% (from what I've seen in Hobbes & Bus's threads)

And I also agree with Bus about moving up to a slightly larger container. Since you plan on keeping them in the same container for the whole cycle, you may want to consider 1 or 2 liter soda bottles with the tops cut off and modified with root pruning capabilities. Bus was able to grow some pretty girls in one liter bottles (post #102) and his only real complaint was that they were too small and the bottles shape made it difficult to transfer, but since you're not moving them, a 2 liter should be perfect for a full grow. Veg a couple weeks, CCOB train, flower and BLAM! High yields of bomb buds!

(Whatever size you choose to CCOB train in, please post some pics and results, suggestions, observations etc. in the Hobbes thread, everyone would really appreciate it! )

Saladman, it depends on strain. After I've run something once through stretch I know what to expect. Out of my 4 regulars, Super Skunk stretches about 50%, Jack the Ripper and Sour Grape both double, and OG Kush goes nuts, stretching to about 2.5 times it's original height. Weird for a supposed Kush, which are pure indica. Since I veg in a 3x3 area, vegging the buckets and having room for them at the right time takes some planning. I'd definitely say I keep the whole thing around 12" from the rim start to finish, even when I retrain them up a little.

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You know what's a trip? This seems like it's, in essence, a SOG style grow, except there's no need to keep Mothers and all of the "clones" grow directly on the plant so it basically cut out the time it takes to cut clones, let them root and toss them in flower. Like Hobbes said, the main stem ends up becoming the main pipeline that supplies all the individual feeder tubes. Brilliant.

How much do you anticipate each cola to yield in dry weight?

Ruiner, it'll work no matter what you grow em in, but I'd go a little bigger. I had great results with 1 gallon grow bags. Poked holes around the top of the bags, trained the plants around em and retrained em around 4 weeks. 20" from cola to base of the grow bags, great yield for smallish plants. If you look at my harvest journal you'll see the nugs from these in the fourth post. Link's in my sig

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thanks for the tip bro...and killer harvest there bro...im still jealous of that gdp you grew...sucks i cant get any clones here...damn them clone only strains

Saladman AKA Mixed Greens said:

Sup Ruiner,

I agree with Bus, the method will work great with any size containers. Especially if you use a strain with a high node-per-inch factor. You'll end up with each node becoming a "main" cola and depending on how many you get per inch you could easily up your yield by 50-100% (from what I've seen in Hobbes & Bus's threads)

And I also agree with Bus about moving up to a slightly larger container. Since you plan on keeping them in the same container for the whole cycle, you may want to consider 1 or 2 liter soda bottles with the tops cut off and modified with root pruning capabilities. Bus was able to grow some pretty girls in one liter bottles (post #102) and his only real complaint was that they were too small and the bottles shape made it difficult to transfer, but since you're not moving them, a 2 liter should be perfect for a full grow. Veg a couple weeks, CCOB train, flower and BLAM! High yields of bomb buds!

(Whatever size you choose to CCOB train in, please post some pics and results, suggestions, observations etc. in the Hobbes thread, everyone would really appreciate it! )

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i just enjoy having multiple strains going at a time..i get bored with the same smoke fast..and im in a really tight space.i might be able to get 2 maybe 3 one gallon containers in there....ive got tons of pots from 4" in size to 3 gallons laying around...just thought with limited space i might be able to get a better yield having a bunch of party cups opposed to having 2-3 at most larger containers...im growing in a converted dresser...stealth is a must where im at....ive always grown nft with multiple hps...but theres no way i can where i am now...condo in florida...they inspect us quarterly...so i cant do anything big again just yet.....i might just mix it up...take what i see as my best strain..start it in a party cup...the transplant to a 1 gallon and ccob train it...and start maybe 4-5 others in party cups and see if i can ccob train them in those....im all about experimenting anyways...like i said..just a hobby for me...and since my mother is buying my next order of seeds (my 63 yr old mother) she offered to buy them for my birthday...the next batch isnt going to cost me much more then new soil

Saladman AKA Mixed Greens said:

You know what's a trip? This seems like it's, in essence, a SOG style grow, except there's no need to keep Mothers and all of the "clones" grow directly on the plant so it basically cut out the time it takes to cut clones, let them root and toss them in flower. Like Hobbes said, the main stem ends up becoming the main pipeline that supplies all the individual feeder tubes. Brilliant.

How much do you anticipate each cola to yield in dry weight?

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I'm hoping for 2 to 3 1/8's per cola, but it might take some fine-tuning. My first CCOB's to go thru the whole process here will harvest in about 5 weeks, so I'll know for sure then what to expect with my current set-up. I'm clearing space and waiting on delivery of a 4x8' tent, and I've already got a 10 rpm light mover and rail ready to go. I also threw the 2 buckets I trained yesterday in Super Soil, so we'll have comparative numbers on that in 8-9 weeks. Super Skunk finishes fast. Tomorrow I'll take somepics of my 6 flowering buckets so we can all speculate together.

Fully a more efficient SOG, like 15 or 20 single cola plants sharing a giant 5 gallon rootball on roids. It makes me think of those giant aspen groves in the rockies, with the ginormous shared root system, which were long thought to be the biggest living organisms on Earth. Now it's some giant fungus in Oregon, but the common theme is still shared roots. Makes ya think, right?

i just enjoy having multiple strains going at a time..i get bored with the same smoke fast..and im in a really tight space

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Yeah brother. I like salads too.

...just thought with limited space i might be able to get a better yield having a bunch of party cups opposed to having 2-3 at most larger containers...

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I'm definitely interested in seeing what kind of yields you can come up with staying in the party cups. Please keep us posted.

My first CCOB's to go thru the whole process here will harvest in about 5 weeks

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Damn dude, I'm fucking dying to see what you pull!
Have you ever thought about taking a pic a day of the same plant in the same position, like a time lapse thing? Check out this little beauty, something you might be interested in. Cheap, decent quality and best of all - automatic.

Tomorrow I'll take somepics of my 6 flowering buckets so we can all speculate together.

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It makes me think of those giant aspen groves in the rockies, with the ginormous shared root system, which were long thought to be the biggest living organisms on Earth. Now it's some giant fungus in Oregon, but the common theme is still shared roots. Makes ya think, right?

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Definitely! And it's just one more ingredient in our formula of perfection. So far we have :

Air-pruned, shared-system rootballs + CCOB training + air floor + 600w HPS + light mover + carbon filter ventilation + good nutes + good temps + good humidity = Fuck yeah!

I didn't get all of em out for pics, but I did take shots of the more mature plants. Here's a mixed bucket, half Jack the Ripper, half Sour Grape, about six weeks into flower. I run both of these strains to 9.









Here's a bucket of OG Kush. I used an old t-shirt instead of Weedblock on this one.











And here's my most mature. This one's got a funny backstory. It started as 3 mini-CCs in half gallon bags, which I was running against SOG style plants which were otherwise identical. After about 4 weeks, I concluded that they were doing about the same. Note: I didn't veg the CC plants in the comparison, I just rained em and threwe em into flower. This was my first attempt at growing crop circle style plants. Anyway, after 4 weeks, I threw 3 of the half gallon CCs into a bucket together to see if expanding the rootspace would make a difference. Long story short, this thing had a rough start, but finished up well. Here's 2 SOG plants...



As compared with 3 circle trained plants in a bucket.









All the OG Kush is getting pulled next Saturday, so I'll have some output numbers. My first legit CCOB plants grown in root pruning buckets will be coming up soon enough. Well, it's never really soon enough for me, but at least you learn patience doing this.

The younger flowering buckets.

Super Skunk, 21 days 12/12



OG Kush, 27 days 12/12



OG Kush, 20 days 12/12

Looks great Short! Sub'd + rep
I have been gradually reading through Hobbes' thread...there is a lot to say the least! I think I'm going to go with this method here on my next grow seems like could definitely increase my yield!

Couple Q's for yah...
How many colas are you getting per bucket?
Are you using an air floor like Hobbes suggests?
One of the buckets you had Jack the Ripper and a Sour Grape and the other was an OG Kush. Did you let the Jack & Sour get about 20" before tying them over and the OG around 38-40"?
Did you tie them all down to the rim of the bucket in 1 day or gradually? And how far apart do you space you holes for tying down?

Thanks in advance and sorry for all the questions.

Don't be sorry! That's what a forum's about.
1. I'd say around 20.
2. I'm not using an air floor, but I'm planning to build one. Since I grow in a gro-tent instead of something I built, I'm going to have to get creative, but I have a design in mind to replicate the effects of the air floor. Basically gonna make a sealed riser for the floor, run the air intake into it and drill some holes.
3. I actually always use 2 plants per bucket because I have a very small veg area, but yeah, around 16-20" per plant from the v where you topped.
4. Because I use 2 smaller plants, they train around the bucket in about 10 minutes. Doing this kind of training with a larger plant with a woodier stem takes much longer (done it a couple times), so to me that's one more pro for using 2 smaller plants per bucket. I space the holes about 4" apart.

Thanks for checking out my grow, ask away and I'll do the same.

Short Bus said:

Don't be sorry! That's what a forum's about.
1. I'd say around 20.
2. I'm not using an air floor, but I'm planning to build one. Since I grow in a gro-tent instead of something I built, I'm going to have to get creative, but I have a design in mind to replicate the effects of the air floor. Basically gonna make a sealed riser for the floor, run the air intake into it and drill some holes.
3. I actually always use 2 plants per bucket because I have a very small veg area, but yeah, around 16-20" per plant from the v where you topped.
4. Because I use 2 smaller plants, they train around the bucket in about 10 minutes. Doing this kind of training with a larger plant with a woodier stem takes much longer (done it a couple times), so to me that's one more pro for using 2 smaller plants per bucket. I space the holes about 4" apart.

Thanks for checking out my grow, ask away and I'll do the same.

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Thanks for the info Short! I will have to get creative with my air floor also. I got a grow going in a 2x4 tent and have a 4x4 standing by for my next grow. That will be happening here in the next 2-3 weeks so I will definitely post some pics maybe you could get an idea from. If you get yours going before me maybe I can get some ideas from you.

Sounds good, man. More minds on a project is more better!

Hey Bus,

Have you cracked any of your stems while training your girls? If so, did they recover or did you just chop off the stem and make clones?

I've never cracked one open, but I did fold a few pretty good in the beginning. In either instance, I always try duct tape first before I write off the damaged area. I've had great results by doing a little custom tape job around a damaged stem and waiting it out. Use enough tape that the stem can retain it's original shape, with no folding at the damaged point. Wait 2 weeks, remove the tape and you'll see a big gnarly plant callus where the damage was. So far, this has only failed me once.

Excellent suggestion Bus.

Tell your girls to hurry up and flower. I wanna see 'em all fat and smelly.

shoot, ive always just put a q tip and tied it up with the green twist ties, duct tape might just be better for me!

Got the new tent yesterday, spent most of today switching over to the new big ass set-up. I'm hella beat, but tomorrow I'll take some pics. 8'x4' tent, light moving rail, room for 18 buckets. Gonna harvest 3 buckets every 11 days, starting in about 6 weeks. Til then, 2 or 3 every 2 weeks. It's gonna be a green Xmas out here.

Short Bus said:

Got the new tent yesterday, spent most of today switching over to the new big ass set-up. I'm hella beat, but tomorrow I'll take some pics. 8'x4' tent, light moving rail, room for 18 buckets. Gonna harvest 3 buckets every 11 days, starting in about 6 weeks. Til then, 2 or 3 every 2 weeks. It's gonna be a green Xmas out here.

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Nice man I got my 4x4 and took it down already was way too big for me! LOL had 1000w everything ready to go!